{"id":3453,"date":"2024-10-25T10:11:06","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T15:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/?p=3453"},"modified":"2024-10-25T10:11:06","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T15:11:06","slug":"bradley-red-cross-club-sponsors-successful-sock-drive-to-support-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/2024\/10\/25\/bradley-red-cross-club-sponsors-successful-sock-drive-to-support-veterans\/","title":{"rendered":"Bradley Red Cross Club Sponsors Successful Sock Drive to Support Veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"

From October 21st to the 25th, the Bradley Red Cross Club held a Sock Drive, to donate socks to local veterans in the Peoria area. The drive was just in time for the upcoming winter months, hoping to keep veterans warm and bring the Bradley community together by working towards a good cause.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sock drive was organized to support local veterans – who face challenges when returning to civilian life. All socks donated throughout the week were given to the American Red Cross, who then distributed them to local Veterans Affairs homes in Peoria. Veterans Affairs provides essential services to military veterans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The purpose of Veteran Affairs is to improve quality of life for veterans adjusting to normal life, by providing assistance with basic needs, healthcare, and housing. By gathering new socks, this drive addressed the need for warm and clean clothing while raising awareness within the community about the potential struggles many veterans may face when returning home.<\/span><\/p>\n

In early 2023, Veterans Affairs reported that \u201con a single night in January 2023, there were 35,574 Veterans who experienced homelessness in the U.S. This reflects a 7.4% increase in the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness from 2022.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

These statistics highlight how critical it is for some veterans to be donated basic necessities, and shows the importance of the initiative from the Bradley Red Cross Club in supporting our country’s veterans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bradley Red Cross Club is known for hosting their various events throughout the year aimed at helping those in need. Their biggest running event is their blood drives, which are typically held multiple times a semester.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout the week, Bradley students could donate to the sock drive by dropping off new pairs of socks into the box at the Michel Student Center. For every 2 pairs a student donated, they received half of a service hour. To earn credit for these hours, students were told to provide a social media post saying \u201c#BURedCross.\u201d These efforts created a sense of community involvement, making it clear that all of the contributions, no matter how small, could make a significant impact on the lives of those in need.<\/span><\/p>\n

This event offered a unique opportunity for students to either receive credit towards service hours or simply better their community. Many students posted on social media to show their donations and show their support for the event.<\/span><\/p>\n

One student, Freshman Benjamin Spear, donated several pairs of socks due to his family\u2019s military history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWith my family coming from a military background, I knew I wanted to donate once I saw the flier online,\u201d Spear said. \u201cDrives like this benefit those in our community that truly need the smaller things the most.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Spear also noted that while he didn’t need more service hours, he still posted his donation online to encourage others to support the cause.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another student, Caleb Sulkin, at first was intrigued by the opportunity to donate for service hours, but also jumped at the choice to help in the initiative to help veterans in need.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cService hours aside, I realized how much of a difference something as small as a new pair of socks can make to those that may not be able to have things as simple as clean socks,\u201d Sulkin said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The week-long drive was a success, as those walking through the Student Center could see freshly donated pairs, and their peers donating on social media. The drive serves as a reminder of the importance of being active in the community and raises awareness to those in need. The Red Cross Club now looks to future events, such as their upcoming blood drive, where they hope that many in the Bradley community will take part in.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From October 21st to the 25th, the Bradley Red Cross Club held a Sock Drive, to donate socks to local veterans in the Peoria area. The drive was just in time for the upcoming winter months, hoping to keep veterans warm and bring the Bradley community together by working towards a good cause. The sock drive was organized to support local veterans – who face challenges when returning to civilian life. All socks donated throughout the week were given to the American Red Cross, who then distributed them to local Veterans Affairs homes in Peoria. Veterans Affairs provides essential services to military veterans.\u00a0 The purpose of Veteran Affairs is to improve quality of life for veterans adjusting to normal life, by providing assistance with basic needs, healthcare, and housing. By gathering new socks, this drive addressed the need for warm and clean clothing while raising awareness within the community about the potential struggles many veterans may face when returning home. In early 2023, Veterans Affairs reported that \u201con a single night in January 2023, there were 35,574 Veterans who experienced homelessness in the U.S. This reflects a 7.4% increase in the number of Veterans experiencing homelessness from 2022.\u201d These statistics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":409,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/409"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3462,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3453\/revisions\/3462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}